Naples, 13 October (LaPresse) – A rescue operation coordinated by the 11th Secondary Maritime Rescue Centre of the Catania Coast Guard has enabled 140 people to be rescued in the last few hours. This morning, the Pozzallo Coast Guard patrol boat Sar CP 325, with a Cisom medical team on board, intercepted a fishing boat from Libya with 140 people on board about 40 miles off the Sicilian coast in Italian SAR waters. The patrol boat rescued 67 migrants, including three injured people who required urgent medical attention. All the migrants were disembarked at the port of Pozzallo and entrusted to the care of medical personnel. The G128 unit of the Guardia di Finanza also intervened in support of the operations and, under the coordination of the 11th Mrsc, transferred another 73 migrants from the fishing boat, who were also subsequently disembarked at the port of Pozzallo. According to initial statements made by the occupants, the fishing boat was the target of an armed attack about 100 miles south-east of Malta, in waters under Maltese SAR responsibility. Investigations are underway into the dynamics of the crossing and what actually happened.
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